Input-output analysis of energy requirements for short rotation, intensive culture, woody biomass

A production model for short rotation, intensive culture (SRIC) plantations was developed to determine the energy and financial costs of woody biomass. The model was based on hybrid poplars planted on good quality agricultural sites at a density of 2100 cuttings ha⁻¹, with average annual growth forecast at 16 metric tonne, oven dry (Mg(OD)). Energy and financial analyses showed preharvest costs of 4381 megajoules (MJ) Mg⁻¹ (OD) and $16 (U.S.) Mg⁻¹ (OD). Harvesting and transportation requirements increased the total costs to 6130 MJ Mg⁻¹ (OD) and $39 Mg⁻¹ (OD) for the delivered material. On an energy cost basis, the principal input was land, whereas on a financial basis, costs were more uniformly distributed among equipment, land, labor, and materials and fuel.     

An investment-led approach to analysing the hydrogen energy economy in the UK

The authors propose an alternative, investment-led approach to analysing the potential for the development of hydrogen energy in the UK. The UK economy is relatively sensitive to movements in world fossil fuels markets since the energy sector contributes at least 5% of UK GDP and represents an asset pool of at least £230 billion. Much of the ongoing research to assess possible scenarios for the development of alternatives to existing energy systems, including hydrogen energy, in the UK is built around the cost-optimising MARKAL model. The authors believe that this approach offers an incomplete picture of hydrogen energy deployment since it ignores the mechanisms dictating the flow of commercial capital to the sector and they suggest an alternative model based on the risk-adjusted value proposition. Initial analysis shows that valuation differentials already exist between companies in the fossil fuel, utilities and fuel cell sectors and that this might be exploited to the advantage of investors thus affecting the speed of development in hydrogen energy. It should be noted that the following represents work in progress and the authors intend to publish an extended analysis in due course.     

The strictest energy requirements in the world: An analysis of the path dependencies of a self-proclaimed success

50 years of progressively strengthened energy requirements in the Danish building code appear to be a success, as the energy consumption has remained constant despite an increase in the total area in requirement of heating. This article however argues that the building code mechanism is heavily influenced by path dependent regime structuration processes, and that the mechanism constitutes a barrier to more radical developments within low energy housing. Few and poorly organized frontrunner activities within low energy housing have accordingly taken place in a Danish context during the past decades. Finally it is proposed that the current development within the energy system provides opportunities for cultivating an improved transitional awareness and for carrying out experimental activities that may challenge the path dependencies of prevailing regime structuration processes.     

An interindustry analysis of structural change and energy use linkages in the Saskatchewan economy

The impacts of changes in final demand on energy use are analysed through the use of a combined energy use/input-output model of the province of Saskatchewan. Through the use of various index measures, the energy interdependence of the provincial economy is examined for the 1974–1979 period. Key sectors are identified whose final demand result in relatively large increases in provincial energy use. The model is extended to analyse the interaction of changes in final demand on energy use, the level of household income and employment.     

Energy policy and the energy economy in FR Germany : An overview

The article reports on the current status of West German energy policy, and in a sense it is a case study of a predominantly, though not purely, market-oriented approach. It presents some interesting facts and figures on the West German energy economy, and although written in an introductory fashion, leads the reader into the heart of current energy policy issues. The short retrospective demonstrates the remarkable success of the market-oriented approach to energy policy. The main current problems are the implementation of stricter environmental standards and the structural adjustments of the domestic coal and refining industries. A short discussion on future perspectives shows that total primary energy demand up to the end of the century is likely to remain stagnant, while further marked progress in energy efficiency can be expected.     

Saving energy is not easy: An impact assessment of Dutch policy to reduce the energy requirements of buildings

The Dutch Government stimulates the application of energy efficiency measures to reduce the energy requirements of buildings, which are responsible for about 20% of the Dutch CO₂ emissions. For our assessment, we followed a qualitative approach, due to a lack of data. We reviewed the mix of policy instruments and used stakeholder surveys and interviews. We found that energy use is not very likely to decline fast enough to achieve the Dutch policy targets for 2020. For new buildings, the policy mix works well, but its contribution to the policy targets is limited. For non-residential buildings the current Act, which obliges enterprises to take cost-effective measures, could be enforced to a greater degree. For privately owned homes a more compelling policy is needed. An alternative policy option would be to make taxation dependent on the energy label of residential houses. This would stimulate residents to take action while retaining the desired autonomy. For rental housing, binding agreements between municipalities and housing corporations may lead to more energy saving measures. Finally, we conclude that the Dutch energy tax is an important pillar of the current policy. It provides higher cost-effectiveness of energy saving measures and legitimates more strict energy efficiency standards.     

An ammonia energy vector for the hydrogen economy

This paper proposes the use of ammonia as a multipurpose energy vector. Synthesized from hydrogen produced in a large, centralized facility using nuclear process heat from a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), the ammonia serves as a low-cost vehicle for energy storage and transmission, via pipeline, to remote demand centers where some of it serves as a clean-burning fuel for local cogeneration and process heat applications, and some of it is used for direct agricultural application or as feedstock for production of nitrogen-based fertilizers or other chemical processes.     

An economic analysis of energy requirements and input costs for tomato production in Turkey

The aim of this study was to examine direct and indirect input energy in per hectare in tomato (industrial type) production and compare it with production costs. The research also sought to analyse the effect of farm size. For this purpose, the data were collected from 95 tomato farmers by questionnaire method. The results indicated that tomato production consumed a total of 45.53 GJ ha⁻¹ of which diesel energy consumption was 34.82% followed by fertilizer and machinery energy. Output–input energy ratio and energy productivity were found to be 0.80 and 0.99 kg of tomato MJ⁻¹, respectively. Cost analysis revealed that the most important cost items were labour costs, machinery costs, land rent and pesticide costs. According to the benefit–cost ratio, large farms were more successful in energy use and economic performance. It was concluded that energy use management at farm level could be improved to give more efficient and economic use of energy.     

Measuring the benefits from an innovation: An application to energy

Market imperfections mean that the public has to finance research related to improving technologies of energy usage and the finding of new energy sources. The decision to invest in research has to be based on economic criteria and one such criterion is cost-benefit analysis. In this study we present four types of innovation and outline a way in which to evaluate the social benefits derived from them. Specific characteristics, such as exhaustibility of energy resources, are explicitly included in the evaluation framework.     

Measuring energy rebound effect in the Chinese economy: An economic accounting approach

Estimating the magnitude of China's economy-wide rebound effect has attracted much attention in recent years. Most existing studies measure the rebound effect through the additional energy consumption from technological progress. However, in general technological progress is not equivalent to energy efficiency improvement. Consequently, their estimation may be misleading. To overcome the limitation, this paper develops an alternative approach for estimating energy rebound effect. Based on the proposed approach, China's economy-wide energy rebound effect is revisited. The empirical result shows that during the period 1981–2011 the rebound effects in China are between 30% and 40%, with an average value of 34.3%.     

Carbon emissions,energy consumption and economic growth: An aggregate and disaggregate analysis of the Indian economy

This study investigates the long and short run relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in India at the aggregated and disaggregated levels during 1971–2014. The autoregressive distributed lag model is employed for the cointegration analyses and the vector error correction model is applied to determine the direction of causality between variables. Results show that a long run cointegration relationship exists and that the environmental Kuznets curve is validated at the aggregated and disaggregated levels. Furthermore, energy (total energy, gas, oil, electricity and coal) consumption has a positive relationship with carbon emissions and a feedback effect exists between economic growth and carbon emissions. Thus, energy-efficient technologies should be used in domestic production to mitigate carbon emissions at the aggregated and disaggregated levels. The present study provides policy makers with new directions in drafting comprehensive policies with lasting impacts on the economy, energy consumption and environment towards sustainable development.     

Discount rate for technology assessment: An application to the energy sector

When comparing the relative merits of technologies in the energy sector, analysis of a long time span is frequently required. Discounting of costs and benefits is usual in such analysis, and the choice of an appropriate discount rate can be vital. The available empirical evidence suggests that the appropriate real discount rate could vary widely depending on which concept it is based. For Australia, a value reflecting the social time preference rate could be as low as 2%, while one based on the social opportunity cost of capital would be considerably higher, probably 7–10%. A multiperiod linear programming model, MARKAL, suitable for energy technology assessment, was used to analyse the effect on the optimal long-term energy strategy for Australia, of using discount rates over the range 2–10%. The results indicate that capital-intensive technologies such as coal liquefaction and solar water heaters are disadvantaged when using high discount rates. This could result in energy strategies being pursued in which the level of oil imports is much     

An overview of energy consumption of the globalized world economy

For the globalized world economy with intensive international trade, an overview of energy consumption is presented by an embodied energy analysis to track both direct and indirect energy uses based on a systems input–output simulation. In 2004, the total amounts of energy embodied in household consumption, government consumption, and investment are 7749, 874, and 2009 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent), respectively. The United States is shown as the world’s biggest embodied energy importer (683 Mtoe) and embodied energy surplus receiver (290 Mtoe), in contrast to China as the biggest exporter (662 Mtoe) and deficit receiver (274 Mtoe). Energy embodied in consumption per capita varies from 0.05 (Uganda) to 19.54 toe (Rest of North America). Based on a forecast for 2005–2035, China is to replace the United States as the world’s leading embodied energy consumer in 2027, when its per capita energy consumption will be one quarter of that of the United States.     

An application of energy and exergy analysis in residential sector of Malaysia

In this paper, the useful concept of energy and exergy utilization is defined, analyzed and applied to the residential sector of Malaysia by taking into account the energy and exergy flows for a period of 8 years from the year 1997 to 2004. The energy and exergy efficiencies are determined for the devices used in this sector and found to be 70% and 28%, respectively. Energy and exergy flow diagrams for the overall efficiencies of Malaysian residential sector are also illustrated in this paper. It is found that the current methodology applied in Saudi Arabia is suitable to analyze energy and exergy use in Malaysian residential sector. It has been found that the exergy efficiency of the Malaysian residential sector appears to be much lower than its corresponding energy efficiency. It has been observed that about 21% of total exergy losses are caused by refrigerator-freezer and 12% of total loss is caused by air conditioner. Washing machine, fan and rice cooker contribute about 11%, 10% and 8% of total exergy losses, respectively.     

Vulnerability of the economy to the potential disturbances of energy supply: A logic-based model with application to the case of China

The disturbances of energy supply that may result from both external and domestic events create a significant threat for national economy due to potential impacts on the productivity, employment and overall economic growth. Building scenarios of the economy's vulnerability to these disturbances is delicate because of the significant number of interrelated factors that should be taken into consideration. In this paper, a logic-based model (LBM) is developed, which allows for defining, exploring and assessing the determinants and the indicators of the economy's vulnerability related to the energy supply disturbances within a coherent scenarios assessment framework. The proposed model is illustrated with the case of China. After developing the general framework, three particular scenarios are investigated. Based on the case study, the performance and limitations of the model are analyzed, and its ability to evaluate national energy policies is discussed. Finally, some recommendations for further improvements are made.     

An application of energy and exergy analysis in agricultural sector of Malaysia

Thermodynamic losses usually take place in machineries used for agricultural activities. Therefore, it is important to identify and quantify the losses in order to devise strategies or policies to reduce them. An exergy analysis is a tool that can identify the losses occurred in any sector. In this study, an analysis has been carried out to estimate energy and exergy consumption of the agricultural sector in Malaysia. Energy and exergy efficiencies have been determined for the devices used in the agricultural sector of Malaysia, where petrol, diesel and fuel oil are used to run the machineries. Energy and exergy flow diagrams for the overall efficiencies of Malaysian agricultural sector are presented as well. The average overall energy and exergy efficiencies of this sector were found to be 22% and 20.728%, respectively, within the period from 1991 to 2009. These figures were found to be lower than those of Norway but higher than Turkey.     

An assessment of the energy tax burden on the Philippine economy

This paper uses an aggregate modelling approach to assess the impacts of a redistribution of the taxes and duties that currently exist on crude oil and refined petroleum products in the Philippine economy. The approach used in the analysis consists of a general equilibrium model composed of fourteen producing sectors, fourteen consuming sectors, three household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of replacing the taxes and duties on crude oil and refined petroleum products with a more broad-based tax on manufacturing and service sectors output on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, the consequences of redistributing the tax burden away from petroleum products to the manufacturing and service sectors of the Philippine economy would be an increase in output by all producing sectors of about 3.5% or about 2.4 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in the consumption of goods and services by about 6.1% or 1.6 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in total utility by 6.9% or 1.9 hundred billion Philippine pesos and virtually no change in tax revenue for the government. When subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution eleasticities. That is, while the model's equilibrium values do vary in response to different assumptions of the values of these elasticities, the fluctutations are not so enormous to suggest that the model is unrealistically sensititve to these parameters.     

A new approach to measuring the rebound effect associated to energy efficiency improvements: An application to the US residential energy demand

This paper brings attention to the fact that the energy demand frontier model introduced by Filippini and Hunt (2011, 2012) is closely connected to the measurement of the so-called rebound effect associated with improvements in energy efficiency. In particular, we show that their model implicitly imposes a zero rebound effect, which contradicts most of the available empirical evidence on this issue. We relax this restrictive assumption through the modelling of a rebound-effect function that mitigates or intensifies the effect of an efficiency improvement on energy consumption. We illustrate our model with an empirical application that aims to estimate a US frontier residential aggregate energy demand function using panel data for 48 states over the period 1995 to 2011. Average values of the rebound effect in the range of 56–80% are found. Therefore, policymakers should be aware that most of the expected energy reduction from efficiency improvements may not be achieved.     

The direct and indirect household energy requirements in the Republic of Korea from 1980 to 2000—An input–output analysis

As energy conservation can be realized through changes in the composition of goods and services consumed, there is a need to assess indirect and total household energy requirements. The Korean household sector was responsible for about 52% of the national primary energy requirement in the period from 1980 to 2000. Of this total, more than 60% of household energy requirement was indirect. Thus, not only direct but also indirect household energy requirement should be the target of energy conservation policies. Electricity became the main fuel in household energy use in 2000. Households consume more and more electricity intensive goods and services, a sign of increasing living standards. Increases in household consumption expenditure were responsible for a relatively high growth of energy consumption. Switching to consumption of less energy intensive products and decrease in energy intensities of products in 1990s contributed substantially to reduce the increase in the total household energy requirement. A future Korean study should apply a hybrid method as to reduce errors occurred by using uniform (average) prices in constructing energy input–output tables and as to make energy intensities of different years more comparable.     

基于节能监测的造纸行业节能潜力分析

从能源利用监测角度论述了节能监测和能源审计的异同,以造纸行业为例,总结和分析了造纸行业节能监测要点和节能潜力,可为企业节能降耗提供参考依据.